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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22454086">I'd Spend Them With You</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintyTrifecta/pseuds/MintyTrifecta'>MintyTrifecta</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Garfield - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abuse of obscure lore, Behold the only serious piece of Garfield writing you'll ever see, Character Study, F/M, Garfield and his giant family, Garfield has a lot of potenital alright, I've been writing this for w e e k s, Most characters are mentions only, Nine Lives</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 05:41:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,258</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22454086</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/MintyTrifecta/pseuds/MintyTrifecta</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"The cat has nine lives. Three for Hunting, Three for straying and Three for playing."</p><p>Alternatively</p><p>Garfield ponders his lives, and what it means to live them.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Garfield/Arlene</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>I'd Spend Them With You</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I blame the tumblr posts for making me do this.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Garfield has been around for a long time. He knows this, and he’s getting pretty tired of it. No matter how much he tries to have any semblance of a normal life cycle, it always comes back and bites him in the tail.</p><p>So now here he stands, inside of an old abandoned theatre filled to the brim with thousands of cats, debating on whether they, as cats should question Primal Self on why they have nine lives.</p><p>“I’m sorry Finn I just don’t see the point in this. Seems more trouble than it’s worth.’’ </p><p>“The humans are people of knowledge just like us, they research and explore their universe and their lives I don’t see why we can’t do the same!” Finnigan McEily, lived eight lives, on his ninth. Spanning seven centuries, approximately 14 years old. He’s the head councilman in the Muncie region, followed by Garfield himself being the second. Of course, what Finn doesn’t know is that Garfield can take away his authority at any moment.</p><p>Not that he wants to do it anyway, too much work and stress, he’d much rather not do all of that thank you very much. </p><p>“Yeah well what will we do with that knowledge once we get it? We’ve lived near humans since before time was counted we know they like to stick their noses where they don’t belong, I’d rather not follow in their footsteps.”</p><p>“Great Bastet, how much more in denial can you get-”</p><p>“Finn I was there to see the worst of what humanity can offer. I’ve been on the receiving end of human curiosity and let me tell you it is not fun. We have no idea how to explore our lives, much less understand why we are the way we are. There really is no point in doing this.”</p><p>In another life, he might have said differently. He might have agreed and said they could benefit from this. But unfortunately, he’s lived too many and is quite certain this will only end in disaster.</p><p>“We are ancient and loved. We have seen civilisations rise and fall and we’re able to tell the tale. Yet the only thing we haven’t figured out is how. I, for one, think this could be beneficial to us as a society and a species.” That was Amelia Sternman, third head of the council. Lived eight lives, spanning five centuries, ten years old. She’s joyful, ignorant, poetic and wide-eyed and Garfield would love to do nothing more than to claw her tail into a clean shave. Damn maine coons…</p><p>If Garfield was in another life, in the garden, he probably would have been her best friend. Jovial, forever young, stupid, they could’ve been mistaken for siblings from different litters.  Sure she can use big words but they ain’t making her any smarter.  She has no idea what this means.</p><p>Garfield recalls a time where he would have jumped on this idea right away. He fed on knowledge in that life. He had to, he was a detective, after all.</p><p>Samuel Elias Spayed. Lived in the 1920s, just your run of the mill hard boiled detective doing his job. Died in a shootout with a gang in 1931. Overly curious, stuck his nose where it didn't belong and it ended up working out great for him.</p><p>But, he’s getting ahead of himself.</p><p>“Why can’t we just keep doing what we’ve always done and go on with our lives. Accept that yeah, this is a thing that just happens and be done with it? Man, how long is this meeting I want to go home already.”</p><p>He heard a wallop in the audience, agreeing with him. Good, he’s not the only one bored out of his mind.</p><p>Finn sighs and strikes down on the stage floor with his paw three times “Alright fine, meeting adjourned for this week, but we will keep discussing this matter next time. You’re free to go.”</p><p>Garfield jumps off the old rusted podium onto uncomfortable old wood,the stage creaks and groans with every step his fellow pets make. </p><p>As Garfield steps out of the Bijou he thinks of how impressive it used to be. Standing proud and intimidating, it's lights aglow. Try hard enough and he can still hear the music playing from the pit. Strain his eyes enough and he swears he can see the actors performing their final number.</p><p>A piece of this land, always here to be remembered, yet never to be fixed. </p><p>He always felt a sense of connection to the building. Who knows, maybe in a previous life he was a pet to one of the cast members.</p><p>Not every life gets remembered, not every person gets photographed. Hell, he can't even remember what he ate for breakfast that day.</p><p>Maybe it was the sense of community that always drew him back there, he thinks. Letting his feet take him wherever they please. Garfield always feels better with other people around, as much as he tries to deny it. </p><p>After living for so long loneliness creeps up on you and crushes you inside out. Being with someone gave him a distraction. A thought that maybe… he didn't have to go through it alone.  </p><p>He remembers the watercolour streaks of stars in his first life. Ancient and hard times, yes. But beautiful nonetheless. The world was new and naive. The older he got, the more stars went out. Now they’re practically all gone. </p><p>So was he. Crushed to death with a tree. His teeth crushed and mouth left bleeding. It wasn't too bad a death, he didn't have to suffer for long.</p><p>He thinks of Finn handling things in today's meeting. The felines asked for a day's meeting just between themselves. Finn trying to handle everyone talking at once doing his best to stay on track. Garfield wanted to laugh at how apparent it was that Finn wanted to scream. The dogs eavesdropping didn’t make it any better.</p><p>While there has been evidence that dogs traverse lives, they didn't want to test the theory and the dogs never said anything. It's a win win in Garfield's book. They don't touch their business and they won't touch his.</p><p>Walking along the road, he hears music coming from the park across the street. There was a performance by a touring folk band, Garfield is sure he can see Jon and Liz in the audience. After enough tries Jon’s given up on dating her and they opted to stay close friends.</p><p>Romance… what an odd thing, Garfield thinks. Everyone strives for a deeper emotional connection yet Garfield can’t remember any life he’s been in where he looked for a partner except his current one. </p><p>Connection was never his forte, often times he found himself opting out of meaningful conversations and friendships when they got too personal.  He doesn’t know why he’s doing it, but he dies inside every time he does. </p><p>Baast’s Honor, how he wishes he could talk to someone. But no. he can’t be vulnerable. His previous lives showed enough of that. Vulnerability led to loneliness, loneliness lead to abandonment and a much faster death. </p><p>Stuck in an uncomfortable liminality between intimacy and isolation, Garfield found himself in a numb state. Constantly grumpy and always eating to distract himself, he’s sure whatever deity out there responsible for cats is rolling in their grave in disgust and horror. </p><p>The band is stopping for a piano solo, Debussy. Arabesque number 1. The corners of his mouth twitch upwards. He remembers Sarah playing this song…</p><p>His favorite life. After his untimely death occurring to an accident on set in a previous life, this one was a great change of pace. No worries, just peaceful times living with Sarah. He was almost her second piano teacher. Lucky one of his previous lives was that of a court musician's pet. Lived in her home from when she was a child and lived to see her child. </p><p> He continues walking and thinks of his home. His first home in this life. A beat up old Italian restaurant in a beat up old part of the city. Forgotten by humans, adored by cats. His whole family lives there. </p><p>Almost. </p><p>His dad doesn't. He left before Garfield was even born. Not that it bothers him any, he's got Jon and that's good enough for him. Garfield hisses softly to himself.</p><p>He remembers eating lasagne for the first time. It was his first ever meal, eaten five minutes or so after he was born. His mother laughed at his already large appetite.</p><p>Unfortunately a few minutes later he was taken away by the owner, thrown into a cage with other whining and screaming animals. The cage taken into a shelter and Garfield placed inside another cage. Begging and pleading to be taken by a human. Garfield cowered in the corner, confused and frightened. Some of the older folks tried to explain the situation to him, but all he cared about in that moment was being back with his mom. </p><p>A few days later, a brunette entered the shelter and Garfield caught his eye.</p><p>It took him a while to warm up to Jon. He knew humans weren't harmful to him, especially not one like Jon but he couldn't help but not be nervous. His previous life left a bitter aftertaste of humans… </p><p>Garfield feels a shiver go down his spine. He hated thinking about it. Being a lab experiment was one thing, almost being killed in the jungle after turning into a dog was another. Both sucked.</p><p>It felt wrong to be a different creature. Everything that he knew from his previous lives suddenly meant nothing. This was new, uncomfortable ground that he wasn't ready to explore. Garfield cringed inwardly.</p><p>He feels terrible saying that. He used to love exploring. It was his whole purpose in multiple lives. As a pirate, a space thief, cowboy, hell one of his jobs was literally exo-planetary explorer! Of course, both instances in space led to him gaining an extra set of lives for some goddamn reason.</p><p>He doesn't know whether to be thankful for it or despise it.</p><p>His feet come to a stop. The smell of old wood and abandoned concrete hits his nose with familiar pleasure. His family's home. </p><p>His home.</p><p>He runs to the back and squeezes through a hole in the wall. He knows why his instincts brought him here, speeding to the kitchen, he finds his clowder. </p><p>Ranging from his half brother Raoul, to his aunt Rockelvia. They run up and greet him with excitement. </p><p>"Look at that, ol' tiger's back." Uncle Morty exclaims, wrapping his tail around Garfield’s back paw and headbutts him.</p><p>"Took you awhile to come visit us. What you getting tired of your family?" Aunt Em scolds him from the top of a cabinet. Her tail swishing back and forth in a lazy welcoming matter.</p><p>Garfield chuckles. "Quite the contrary. You know I'd visit more if it were allowed by the Council. Unfortunately they don't take too well to anyone born outside a vet, shop or a human's home."</p><p>He hears great grandfather Oslo scoff. "Darn pets. They're the ones who kicked us out, you know."</p><p>Garfield rolls his eyes and replies, "Yeah I know you only whine about it every time I come over. But that's not why I'm here, do you know where mom is?"</p><p>"Check the dining room, she likes to sleep near the tables." </p><p>Garfield nods and makes his way towards his mom. After Luigi's Palace closed down she along with the rest of the family were considered strays and forced to leave the community. </p><p>"Mom? You here?"</p><p>"Table six, sweetie." </p><p>With a smile (and a few falls) Garfield makes his way to the top of the booth. He runs to his mom and headbutts her playfully, saying hello. </p><p>"Why, it's good to see you too, Garfield. What's the reason for your sudden visit?" She speaks softly.</p><p>Garfield sits down next to her and begins to explain,</p><p>"The council wants to initiate conversation with Primal Self. Not only that but to experiment on it and find out why it happens. I don't know about you but the idea of doing it sounds ridiculous and unnecessary." He says with a pout.</p><p>Sonja looks at her son with a curious gaze before replying.</p><p>"Well, my mother told me that the reason it happens is because the animals of the world were jealous of us cats having so many lives so they asked their ancients to curse all cats to come with a trial. This trial shall be held on each fifth life and determine whether a cat deserved its other lives in peace, or if they had to work for it. The ancient spirit of cats listened to their pleas and in sympathy, obliged. Following every cat on their fifth life and bringing out their ancient instincts."</p><p>Garfield stared at her in confusion, he was around before time was even thought of. Surely he'd remember something this important.</p><p>"But that's just an old queen's tale. Nobody knows for sure. I can't offer you much help with this, but I can support you in your council. Even from afar."</p><p>Garfield smiles and cuddles with her for what seemed like a lifetime before getting up, proclaiming he needs to return home.</p><p>As the moon shone on him walking down the street, he thinks of how wonderful this world is; despite its messes. He knows it is.</p><p>After all, he's been around for a long, long time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I've worked on this thing for months now and let me tell you nothing I ever write will be better than this this is my peak</p><p>I feel like I should explain some things here:</p><p>The council of animals is a headcanon of mine inspired by the animals coming together to the Bijou in Garfield's Judgement Day, Finn and Amelia are ocs (the concept of garfield ocs is cursed as hell) </p><p>In the tv version of Garfield: His Nine Lives, Garfield lied and said he was on his first life and as such gained nine more, which I theorized were the BOOM comics version of His Nine Lives. In that version, on his ninth life he found a time traveling stone and was brought back to his first life as cave cat, which we can say was the original book.</p><p>The whole idea of his loneliness came from That halloween strip. You know which one I'm talking about.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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